Sunday, June 21, 2009

Day of the Dad

I feel as if Father's Day is often overshadowed. Restaurants advertise gormet brunches on Mother's Day. Retailers run advertisements for special sales to get us to purchase things for our moms. Churches even sometimes hand out flowers to all those moms on Mother's Day. But does Father's Day get the same attention?

To honor my own dad, I'd simply like to share a couple brief but good stories about him from my memory.

After my birth but before my memory kicks in, my father (and mother) decided to play a cruel but funny joke on my poor Aunt Ann. At a pre-dertermined time, my mom called my aunt and said something along the lines of, "I don't have much time. The fire department is here. If Jim calls you, tell him I have the kids and the dogs and we are safe." My mom then hung up. Right on schedule, my father called my aunt about 10 minutes later and said, "I'm standing in front of my burning house. Have you heard from my family?" I don't know to what extent the joke played out after that but I do know that for years we received phone calls in the middle of the night from an unknown caller who hung up after we'd answer. This was long before Caller ID so we can't prove anything but we are convinced that it was my aunt getting back at us.

As a small child, my mom once told my brother and me that very small fairies lived on our placemats at the dinner table and that if we were to put our elbows on the table, it would kill them. I assume that this was a story that she had grown up with as well. After my mom had finished telling the tale, my father wasted no time at all. He immediately begun POUNDING his elbows on the table while shouting, "Die! Die! Die!" Perhaps a little morbid for small children, and somewhat less supportive than my mother would have preferred, but we all thought it was hysterical!

For those of you who don't recall, my father is an Episcopal priest and co-officiated our wedding with my Father-in-Law, also an Episcopal priest. One of my father's responsibilities during that event was to give Leni permission to "kiss the bride". Those weren't the words he used however. Instead, he chose these: "Leni, you may now kiss my daughter"

Much about my father is a mystery and I learn more about him every time I hang out with his side of the family who seem to be more forthcoming with the details of his childhood than he usually is. Regardless, I owe more than I could ever give to my dad in a lifetime of trying. Thank you, Dad, and have a restful and enjoyable Father's Day!

To finish up some blog-keeping, some of you have asked for the solution to the riddle on my most recent post. The answer: a quarter and a nickle. I said one of the coins wasn't a nickle....the other one was! If you guessed correctly, I know that you are intelligent and/or you are a fan of the hilarious sitcom, Scrubs.